SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Central New York Community Foundation recently announced it has welcomed three new members to its Black Equity & Excellence Advisory Council — Me’Shae Brooks-Rolling, Cal Corriders, and Lekia K. Hill. The advisory council is charged with reviewing grant proposals and making funding recommendations as well as “identifying gaps and opportunities to […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Central New York Community Foundation recently announced it has welcomed three new members to its Black Equity & Excellence Advisory Council — Me’Shae Brooks-Rolling, Cal Corriders, and Lekia K. Hill.
The advisory council is charged with reviewing grant proposals and making funding recommendations as well as “identifying gaps and opportunities to create a more equitable and economically inclusive Central New York for the Black community,” the CNY Community Foundation said in a new release.
Brooks-Rolling is executive director of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA), CNY’s regional minority chamber of commerce. She is also a serial entrepreneur: franchise owner/operator of EventPrep NY and executive producer of the Financial Empowerment Summit, Syracuse’s first-ever financial-education conference. She is a certified educator in personal finance in conjunction with her micro-social enterprise, Just The Basics Financial Literacy. Me’Shae’s businesses are certified with the City of Syracuse and New York State.
Corriders currently serves as the manager of neighborhood economic development at CenterState CEO. In his role, he is focused on creating economic inclusion within Syracuse’s Southside neighborhoods through real estate and business development as well as workforce innovation. He previously worked in the banking industry, most recently at Pathfinder Bank, where he served as a mortgage originator, assisting people in acquiring residential properties. Corriders volunteers his time by sitting on boards like United Way of Central NY and The Stand newspaper, which tells stories from Southside Syracuse residents’ viewpoints.
Hill is the community outreach and diversity coordinator at Hueber-Breuer Construction, where she manages engagement and oversees MWBE utilization for company projects. Hill has 15 years of experience in sales and marketing for companies such as Wachovia, JP Morgan Chase, and Clear Channel. She recently launched an emerging tech startup, called Lekia Tech LLC, and founded Powerful Voices, an app that connects constituents with elected officials that drives to improve social and economic welfare in underserved communities.
The Community Foundation launched the Black Equity & Excellence Fund in June 2020 to support projects that encourage self-sufficiency and improve the physical and economic conditions that affect Black community members’ quality of life. It also seeks to encourage dialogue that will strengthen collaborative engagement on race-related matters and support social and educational growth in the community.
Other current members of the Black Equity & Excellence Fund Advisory Council are Jalyn Clifford, Bishop Ronald Dewberry, Dr. Tanisha M. Jackson, LaToya Jones, Naquia Lacey, and Minister Mark Muhammad.